Garden pond and other water plants

In May 2003, we build a garden wild-life pond. Part of the motivation for the pond site has been searching for and studying native water plants. This page started as a list (made at the end of August 203 - some 14 weeks after filling the pond) of most of the species we had (or at least have put into) the pond. It is now being extended as a listing of British water plants - though that can never be exhaustive, as many plants are quite happy in water or on fairly dry land!

Where the latin name is a link, this gives more detail of the plant.

Photographs

I have available (or can readily take) photographs of many of these plants. These are indicated by an arrow: . These photos have not all been put on the www site. So if you are interested in them, please ask.

Invasive alien plants

There are several plants which are listed by, for instance, plantlife.org as potentially invasive non-british species. I have three of these in my pond. All are doing well, but are not too invasive. While these are fine as garden pond plants, you should be aware that it is illegal to allow these to be introduced into any natural waters, so dispose of them with care. They are indicated by a cross:

Alien they may be, but in practise I find many british natives can out-compete them - given the right conditions. That's the point - almost any plant, given favourable conditions, can be invasive. Which is why no plant should be intriduced into the wild. But it's odd to see how invasive plants like water soldier and great spearwort can be, considering that they are now rare in the wild.

Plants available

5th July 2007 - the pond is well established. As time progresses some species thrive and others do not. But many plants are doing very well and need to be frequently weeded out, so are often available. These are indicated by a dot:


The list of plants

With all this planting, at the end of one year, the pond margin is rather a splendid sight, and does show what can be done with (almost entirely) indigenous plants. The photo was taken 16 May, 2004. Click on it to download the full size picture!

Pond_01t

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Document URI: nathist.torrens.org /Aqua/garden.html
Last modified: Mon, 04 May 2020 17:12:24 BST
Page first published 25th August 2003.
Page written and © 2003-2007 by Richard Torrens